Ichigo's trials and errors
by Mistro
Summary: All of soul society has been led to believe that one's zanpakuto has only two releases. Suppose there are really three. Includes a short battle between Yamato and Ichigo and other battles between Ichigo, his hollow and Zangetsu. More coming soon.


"Reduce the whole of creation to smoldering ashes"

Yamato swung his zampaktou to fast for Ichigo to block it while in his bankai. Suddenly there was a gaping hole in his chest.

"This is your limit, Ichigo" Yamato said "but this isn't your full potential."

"You suck Ichigo!" said his inner hollow as he fought for dominance, "it is time for me to be king now"

"No!" Ichigo said, "I want to win, I want to win on my own"

Ichigo's eyes started to get heavy when suddenly he was in his inner world.

"Huh!" Ichigo said "I thought I was going to die"

"You should Ichigo, you suck, fortunately for you Zangetsu is on your side."

Zangetsu was standing on his pole in the middle of the two.

"Ichigo, I will ask you a second time, do you want to live or do you want to win"

"I want to win, I need to win to protect my friends and people who are close to me"

"I'll take you there but this conflict between you and your hollow must stop. Your soul was completely your own but when you gained your shinigami powers, I became a part of it. When you gained your hollow powers, your hollow gained a part as well. Because we have complete trust in each other, we are one with each other. You need that same bond with him before you can become stronger and your soul can again become yours."

"Huh? I need to become friends with him?"

"I have to become friends with that weakling?"

"Let us make a deal, if I beat you, you must become one with me and if you beat me I will become one with you. Deal?"

"Ha! I have already won. I will become the king."

The scenery changed into a battlefield. Ichigo was in his black uniform with his black zangetsu while his hollow was in all white carrying his white zangetsu on his shoulder.

Both of them shouted together, "Let's do this!"

"Getsuga tenshō!"

"Kuroi getsuga!"

The blue and black blasts collided in the center of the battlefield knocking down several buildings in the process. Ichigo used shunpo to get behind his hollow and swung Zangetsu unfortunately his hollow seemed to know his every move and was dodging every single attack.

"Can he read my mind?" Ichigo wondered.

"Surprised Ichigo? You are too predictable. You use the same moves all the time. I'll show you a real attack."

"BANKAI!!!!, Kuroi getsuga!"

Ichigo had just countered the attack when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The hollow had cut him right across the chest. Fortunately it wasn't too deep.

"You suck Ichigo! How do you plan to protect your friends when you can't even protect yourself?"

"Everyone is counting on me. Everyone wants me to win and I don't ever want to let them down. BANKAI!!!!"

The battlefield was tearing itself apart from the full force of their spirit energies. They fought and clashed over and over again. Suddenly there were hundreds of Ichigos across the battlefield. His hollow didn't stand a chance. In two seconds it was over. "How's that for being predictable."

"You have won this battle and have earned my respect. I uphold my part of the bargain."

Zangetsu appeared and congratulated Ichigo on a job well done.

"However Ichigo, this was only the first step. You now have to battle me again but this time I won't be holding back."

"I don't expect you to."

They fought for what seemed like hours. Neither could get through the other's defenses. It appeared to be a tie until Ichigo realized something Zangetsu was still holding back, it was waiting on him to force him to go all out.

As Ichigo battled he realized he had gained some of his hollow's abilities. He had so much control over his spirit energy that he could change his zanpakuto's size at will. He also realized that he could sort of control his blasts. They began to follow zangetsu and were harder for him to dodge. Ichigo also realized his spiritual energy was increasing still and his wounds were healing rapidly.

"It appears you now have full control over your hollow and can use its abilities at will now. That is good for you and bad for you at the same time."

All of a sudden there were thousands of Zangetsus hitting and slashing at Ichigo all the time. Ichigo realized he could form a barrier around him all the time. That protected him from harm yet enabled him to counter as well. After five or six counters Zangetsu told him the name of the attack. "To activate you must say "protect", don't forget it".

The battle turned into days and Ichigo was no where closer to defeating Zangetsu. It suddenly hit Ichigo.

Suddenly there were thousands of Ichigos to battle the thousands of Zangetsu. However, there were all in a circle using shunpo with their backs to each other. "What is Ichigo planning to do?" Zangetsu thought.

"Kuroi getsuga!"

The blasts were so powerful that it completely darkened the sky. The real Zangetsu was plummeted to the ground by the pure force of it.

"Congratulations Ichigo!" he said "I knew you could do it. You should be able to defeat Yamato now with all that you learnt" You have achieved Trenkai.

"What!"

They talked about it a long time.


End file.
